The future of another domestic airline has been thrown into doubt after trading was halted on the Australian Stock Exchange.
There were increasing concerns on Tuesday over the fate of regional airline Rex, with an estimated 2,000 jobs being ‘thrown into limbo’, the Transport Workers Union said.
Rex’s shares went into a trading halt on the ASX on Monday following recent boardroom turbulence and multimillion-dollar losses.
An announcement is expected by the opening of trade on Wednesday.
‘In the meantime, it isn’t appropriate for us to make any further comments,’ a Rex spokesperson said.
The trading halt also came amid reports Rex had called in consultancy firm Deloitte to review the airline’s books. Deloitte referred media inquiries to Rex.
Transport Minister Catherine King said the government was in touch with the airline and keeping an ‘hour by hour’ watch on the situation.
‘Regional Australians rely on Rex,’ she told Channel Seven‘s Sunrise on Tuesday.
There were increasing concerns on Tuesday over the fate of regional airline Rex (plane pictured), with an estimated 2,000 jobs being ‘thrown into limbo’
‘It’s an incredibly important airline. In many cases (it’s) the only airline going into a range of smaller country towns and people are heavily reliant on it.’
‘We are treating this very seriously and being very vigilant about what is happening, and keeping an eye on the situation hour by hour.’
Rex has built a strong reputation since its inception in 2002 and became known for its reliability.
The Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics found in April the airline cancelled just one per cent of its flights – beating all of its competitors.
The domestic airline was recognised internationally at the World Airlines Awards in early July when it received the title for Best Regional Airline in Australia/Pacific.
Ms King noted that unlike Bonza, which recently collapsed, Rex owns rather than leases its planes.
‘It is up to Rex to be informing its customers that it’s operating services today,’ she said.
‘There has been some instability in the board recently… but I do want to reassure people that Rex is an important airline… and we are watching the situation carefully.’
Since the Covid-19 pandemic, Rex has struggled with its profitability as the overall sector struggled in tough conditions (pictured, Melbourne Airport)
Earlier in July, creditors voted to liquidate budge airline Bonza. Passengers are pictured at Sydney Airport
A range of regional communities around the nation rely on the carrier, which emerged 22 years ago following the collapse of Ansett.
Since the Covid-19 pandemic, Rex has struggled with its profitability as the overall sector struggled in tough conditions.
In February, Rex reported a bottom line net loss of $3.2million for the first half of the 2023/24 financial year on the back of rising costs, especially for fuel.
However, that was an improvement on the $16.5million loss reported in the previous corresponding period.
In June, Rex announced that long-serving executive chairman Lim Kim Hai was stepping down, though he remains on the board as a non-executive director.
In July, Mr Lim, a significant shareholder, requested a general meeting of shareholders to remove a number of directors including non-executive chairman John Sharp.
